Decoding China's Leap in Humanoid Robotics

Host: You Zhixin, Xinhua Correspondent

Guest: Denis Depoux, Global Managing Director of Roland Berger

Transcript

You Zhixin:

Welcome to China Trends. As you can see, we have a very special studio, and we are joined by two extraordinary guests.

Denis Depoux：

I am Denis Depoux, Global Managing Director of Roland Berger.

You Zhixin:

And this is Emma from Shanghai Qingbao Robotics. So today we will unpack the latest technology in terms of humanoid robots and their path to commercialization. In your view, what are the key technology advances during the past two to three years?

Denis Depoux：

First of all, it's a big market. We have modeled the market in a low and a high scenario that goes from 1 trillion U.S. dollars to 3 trillion U.S. dollars by 2050. 3 trillion US dollars, to give you an idea, is the global automotive market. We are at prototype stage. We're not in commercial maturity yet.

The industrial robot market, the machine tool market, is already pretty developed, but there’s still a way of development ahead of us. For me, it's not only a matter of technology, it's also a matter of finding the right use cases. Some of it will be industrial, some of it will be in the service of industry. So integrating all these technologies, hardware and software, into something that is highly functional and interacting like a human is a series of engineering challenges that need to be sorted out one by one.

You Zhixin:

Now let's turn to Emma. Can you introduce yourself?

Emma:

Hello everyone. I’m Emma from Qingbao Robot. I can bring you wonderful dance performances and tell jokes to cheer you up when you are not in a good mood. I am mainly applied in various scenarios such as cultural and tourism scenic spots, security venues, retail spaces and educational classrooms.

I not only serve everyone in China, but also have left my footprints in many countries such as the U.K., Korea, Cambodia and India, bringing intelligent services to the world. Welcome to come and communicate with me.

You Zhixin:

So what do you think of China’s humanoid robots? What are the advantages?

Denis Depoux：

Humanoid robots have been talked about for many years. And I see at one point we were seeing quite some American companies showing their products but always prototypes, not much commercial use. And suddenly starting last year, especially with the big show at Spring Festival TV show, it became very clear that a lot of Chinese companies are now competing for that market with pretty advanced products, probably still prototypes, but quite advanced to be able to perform dance. It's another example of China sort of leapfrogging in that humanoid robot technology.

You Zhixin:

But some people might worry or argue that the widespread use of this kind of humanoid robots can cause job disruption. So how could policymakers and enterprises to ensure just transition?

Denis Depoux：

I think it goes the other way around, actually. Humanoid robots will be useful to actually replace workers that we won't have any more because of the decline in population.

The other thing is that humanoid robots will be able to lift up productivity by doing more and doing better things that humans, in some cases, don't want to do or things that humans want to do but are dangerous. If humanoid robots can actually back up the need for more people, that will gradually improve the quality of life and provide better and more services. That's productivity, and productivity is what it needs to lift up an economy.

You Zhixin:

And just as you mentioned, humanoid robots’ technology covers different aspects like hardware, software. So in your view, what will be the next focus of its technology?

Denis Depoux：

Energy supply is a problem because the more sophisticated a robot is, the more energy it needs. Then you need either a big cable or a big battery. And then you lose part of the functionality because of the cable or because of the battery. So I think miniaturizing the energy supply is a challenge. Then, obviously, the humanoid robot will benefit from AI advancement because it's not only about sensing the environment but also reacting in a very fast, natural way and avoiding hallucinations.

You Zhixin:

How crucial is international collaboration and what role can China play?

Denis Depoux：

We are still at the early stage of the development of the technology. So we are still somewhere between science and commercial product. All this will benefit from different research teams coming from different backgrounds, different environments, different use cases, industrial, commercial, services, etc. So I think the more global it can be, the better. I think it's great to see that we have American firms, we have European firms, particularly French firms. We have Chinese firms competing for that market but also nurturing each other by collaborating on some of the technology.

You Zhixin:

And do you want to interact with Emma? Do you have any questions for her?

Denis Depoux：

Do you think you can replace humans?

Emma：

I can't completely replace humans. Although I can handle a wide range of tasks and provide useful information and assistance. Humans possess unique qualities like emotions, creativity, complex social skills and we can complement each other.

You Zhixin:

And thank you for sharing such a fascinating discussion. Stay tuned. See you next time.